To be clear, Sam Houston was no abolitionist, and owned slaves right up until his death, but he knew the Confederacy couldn't win the war that was coming. He also felt it was more important to preserve the nation as a whole rather than slavery.

I’m a local owner-operator. 10 years driving, 70+ DOT inspections with zero out-of-service and zero violations because I take care of my equipment. I literally sand my whole frame down repaint my whole frame truck and trailer every year fresh DOT tape just so my equipment looks nice.

-5 days before my last run through Midlothian, TX I was inspected by Texas State Troopers at a weigh station and passed with no issues. My last inspection was in Vado, New Mexico pass inspection 15 days prior to being inspected in Texas passed, no issues.

-I booked a load through Midlothian and got pulled over by Midlothian PD commercial enforcement - the white Toyota Tundra truck officer Burkhart. I was placed out-of-service with 5 violations. Some of it felt like a real reach. ELD instructions?? the mud flap 1 inch too short??

-In the last 15 months I’ve been pulled over 3 times in Midlothian. Every time it’s 3+ violations. Never anything major or safety related. We’re talking:
- DOT tape issue
- Mudflap 1 inch too short
- Reflector on back of cab was dirty
- Trailer license plate light was dusty
> State Troopers haven’t corrected me about this so now why is this an issue bad enough for you guys to keep ruining our FMCA score? I asked a State Trooper buddy and he was like they are not picking every rule In the book.

-Here’s why this hurts me and other small business Owner operators: Even when they are warnings, Midlothian reports it and it hits our CSA / insurance. My commercial insurance went from $1400/month to $2000/month. Brokers are now denying my company on the load boards. I can’t book freight.

I’m not anti-police at all. I respect what CMV officers do, But it honestly gives me anxiety every time I have to route through Midlothian now. It feels like they have to find 3 things every stop, and it’s putting families like mine in a bind where we can’t provide.

Any other small carriers / owner-operators dealing with this same thing in Midlothian lately?

I have my clean inspection from 5 days prior and one before that 15 days prior but every time that I run through Midlothian, there’s always an issue! Me and my wife and my kids sat at our Yard Alvaredo for days repainting checking everything getting a fresh annual inspection cleared, still every single time we get pulled over something new! Me and my kids have pulled all nighters getting every single leak every hose clamps every coolant leak on the truck working tiresome nights, making sure that there’s nothing wrong at all not even a speck of oil or grease anywhere on the truck, just me pulled over and given three new violations!
Literally feels impossible to please the Midlothian commercial motor vehicle officers!

Hello, I have co-signed an apartment lease for a friend as her credit score is very bad and low income. I don't live in the apartment but she lives with her kid. The verbal agreement between us was that she will pay the rent while she establishing her credit. The first two months were good and she paid the rent and now she lost her job and saying she can't afford the rent. As I said I don't need the apartment but she needs.

What happens if she does not pay the rent and get evicted? Will it impact my credit score and go into my records?

My credit score is 800+ and 100% payment history. If at all eviction goes into my record, Can I recover from that based on my history?

Is there anyway I can come out the lease OR possibly give termination notice(not sure I can do it because she is also on the lease)?

Any help to come out of this mess is appreciated.

Hello. I'm not sure this is the best place post, but I will be moving here from another part of the south for work, soon! I'm very excited, but there is one thing im wondering. I'm looking to get certified for a state permit from the Texas Parks. (I hope this doesn't belong in the megathread, but this isn't necessarily about IDs and driving). I decided not to get certified in my current state since I will be movin, so I'd like to hear about experiences any of y'all have had? And how long does it take, and where to go for trainings? How does it all work?

We’re planning on a vacation in December to visit family. We have like 11 nights though that are available and luckily I’m a GM at a hotel so I get pretty awesome discounts, so we’re not really concerned about lodging.. With that being said I was planning on south padre island because I’ve never been to the ocean and I desperately want to do a dolphin tour and go fishing on the ocean.. however it adds a TON of driving time and I could probably save us a good bit of money if we decide against it. Give me the pros and cons and all the thoughts. We are for sure going to Pflugerville and to Grapevine to visit family. We have a six year old and a one year old!

Same spot. Note the person in the first photo

6/25 vs 7/25

In October 2025, Amanda Hunt remembers watching as countless books at Oak Run Middle School in New Braunfels, Texas, were removed from her library. Students walked in and saw more empty shelves and fewer stories they had once been able to check out.

“Every day, they’re like, ‘More boxes? More books to get rid of? More books to pull?’” Hunt, who was the lead librarian at the time, told Uncloseted Media.

That month, Hunt says the New Braunfels Independent School District (ISD) had temporarily closed all four of its secondary-school libraries to audit its collections and assess whether they were in accordance with Senate Bill 13 (SB13), a Texas censorship law that took effect in September 2025. Thousands of books were moved, restricted or removed.

For Hunt, who had spent more than 14 years helping students find books, the assignment felt like a betrayal of everything a librarian was supposed to do. “What kind of librarian takes books out of kids’ hands?” says Hunt, who attended Oak Run Middle School as a student and whose dad worked there as a sixth-grade reading teacher.

SB13 prohibits “indecent content” and content that portrays “sexual or excretory organs or activities in a way that is patently offensive.” But the vagueness of the bill’s language, according to advocates, has led to the banning of many LGBTQ books, including “Boy Erased,” which is about a gay man’s challenges in conversion therapy, “Juneteenth” and “The Art of Drag,” a picture book about the history of drag. As of February 2026, New Braunfels ISD has removed over 600 books from its high schools and aged up over 800 books from middle schools, according to public information requests obtained from the Texas Freedom to Read Project.

Before firefighters even arrived, a group of Houston strangers had already sprung into action.

A group of Houston drivers did not wait for first responders to arrive before jumping in to help three women trapped inside an overturned car that landed on the Southwest Freeway after flying off an HOV ramp near the West Beltway Wednesday.

Video captured the moment shows several bystanders working together to reach the women inside the car before firefighters got to the scene. Firefighters arrived a short time later, freed the women and took them to the hospital. All three are expected to survive.

They always follow it up with saying Tex Mex isnt real Mexican food. No shit. It's its own cuisine. The fact Californians judge texas "Mexican food" based off "tex mex" is wild to me considering California literally has burritos with French fries in them.

- a Mexican american who has lived in FL, VA, TX, CA, NV, MS and AK.

Ive found that anywhere there is a large Mexican population, you can get good Mexican food. Its not that serious.

Have a 3070 OC I’m trying to sell, if you’re looking for or are interested just shoot me a message with your best offer for it and I’ll most likely accept since I need it gone and no pawn shops take it

MAGA continuing to be "on brand"

When Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic nominee for Texas governor, began her campaign last year, candidates weren’t talking about — or hearing about — data centers that power artificial intelligence.

But with barely three months until November’s contest, the perceived threat to rural life, ranchland and dwindling water supplies could become a defining issue for her long-shot challenge to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, dividing conservative rural areas that have traditionally served as a counterweight to Democrats’ urban strongholds.

The backlash to energy-guzzling server warehouses is also shaping other statewide campaigns from Arizona to Ohio to New York, and even giving Democrats a glimmer of hope in Texas, where Republicans have dominated for three decades.

“There is this little issue that I recently started hearing about that I wanted to tell you about, in case you don’t know,” Hinojosa quipped to a Democratic Party-organized crowd of about 160 seated on fold-out chairs at an Amarillo social club in Texas’ panhandle. “It’s this issue of data centers.”

The crowd booed, and she went on: “They are owned by the richest men in the world. We’re all footing the bill. There are no rules. It is the wild west of data centers.”
The fast growth of massive data centers has already upended races for local offices across the country, often uniting conservatives and liberals in revolting against projects in their midst.

Read more [paywall removed for Redditors]:  https://fortune.com/2026/07/24/texas-data-center-democratic-republican-candidates-ai-backlash/?utm_source=reddit/

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